Kamala Harris is laying out proposals to cut taxes for most Americans, ban “price gouging” by grocers and boost affordable housing during her first major economy-focused speech as the Democratic presidential candidate on Friday.
The U.S. vice president is traveling to Raleigh, North Carolina, to outline an agenda for her first 100 days in office, where she will call for expanding the child tax credit to $6,000 for families with newborn children, cut taxes for families with kids and lower prescription drug costs, Harris campaign officials said.
She aims to draw a contrast with her Nov. 5 election opponent, Republican Donald Trump, on tariffs and taxes, they said. Her agenda may run into resistance from both corporations and Congress, who rejected similar proposals when they came from President Joe Biden.
Harris’ economic agenda broadly mirrors Biden’s, but introduces some new homebuying incentives and attempts to control high prices. Democrats are hoping to appeal to a broad segment of the working public who often see Republicans as better economic stewards and are anxious over both higher costs and their economic prospects
Some of her policies, including the ones on housing and groceries, have come under attack as ill-considered and overly liberal populism by Republicans and some industry groups.
Inflation fell to below 3% for the first time in nearly 3-1/2 years in July, but prices of groceries and consumer goods remain well above their pre-pandemic levels.
The Trump campaign has also been mulling new tax cuts for middle-class households, and Trump proposed eliminating taxes on tipped wages – something Harris did as well in Las Vegas last week.